Brewster Quarterback Keeps Spirits High
Brewster High School football quarterback AJ Accurso is selfish… In a good way.
Entering the final month of the regular season, the standout is hoping to extend his shelf life into the postseason. It’s a selfishness shared by his teammates.
“Our record doesn’t show how good we actually are,” said Accurso. “We have to clean things up and stop giving other teams an advantage through our mistakes.”
The Bears had yet to win a game in three tries this season heading into the Oct. 3 game against Carmel. But t
he playoffs are still within reach – and Accurso knows it.
“Too many penalties,” he mused. “We have to be the ones to take advantage.”
And, he has a pragmatic attitude about what happened in the first half of the season. “We have to realize that that’s all in the past and there’s nothing we could do about it now, and that it’s only up from here,” he said. “If we can do that, I think it will put us right back on track.”
As one of the leaders of the Bears, Accurso puts much of the burden on his own shoulders. He does it by being almost Zen-like – and by staying calm even in the most harried situations. Accurso embraces the role, saying that if he freaks out, then everybody will… So he doesn’t.
The ironic thing is, as good as Accurso is at football, he’s even better at lacrosse. In fact, he will be playing lacrosse next fall for the University of Scranton.
“A team has to have the mindset to keep moving forward and never give up,” he said. “I’ve seen highs and lows throughout my career in both sports. I tell the guys, stuff is going to hit the fan. Always. Stuff doesn’t always go your way. It’s how you react to it that’s the key.”
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